There’s a lot to love about Perth’s favourite beachside town. Built on a solid bedrock of old-school farming and big-wave surfing, Margaret River’s cool, ocean-loving culture feeds a soulful food scene that’s organic, biodynamic and makes it oh-so-easy to have a sustainable holiday. Music festivals and surf contests gather the town together and fill the beds of its many eco-certified retreats. There are yoga classes aplenty, permaculture workshops and organic tasting sessions in dozens of vineyards. But “Margs”, as locals affectionately call it, offers quite a bit more.
A few years ago, Margaret River become WA’s first certified Eco destination, one of only seven Australian regions now recognised for a community’s collective efforts to foster local sustainability. An entire town pulling together for the planet is a big tourism drawcard anywhere you travel, but when you factor in that Margaret River also backs onto one of the most bewitching coastlines in the west (with waves and dive spots to boot), it all amounts to a pretty strong elixir.
The adventure coast
There’s a grittiness among locals that comes from people going against the grain and carving out businesses they believe in. You’ll find them literally everywhere around Margs, on patches
